Sputnik:
The reserved reaction by the Kremlin to President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that the United States should upgrade its nuclear arsenal proves that in the contemporary military and economic reality Russia will not change its defense strategy, read a report by American intelligence company Stratfor.
In late-December, Trump wrote on his Twitter account that the US had to “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”
“As for President-elect of the United States Donald Trump [and his comment on nuclear enhancement], there is nothing new. During his election campaign, he spoke about the necessity to strengthen US nuclear capabilities, its army, this is not surprising,” Russia President Vladimir Putin commented during a major year-end press-conference. Trump’s remark came as President Barack Obama signed a $618.7 billion defense spending bill. In recent years, the US and Russia have significantly invested in building up their defense capabilities.
Washington is taking measures to strengthen NATO forces along the Eastern European flank. It launched a missile-defense system in Romania in May and plans to expand NATO troop rotations next year. The US is also implementing a $350 billion plan to upgrade all components of its nuclear weapons triad.
In response to the NATO military buildup, Russia has deployed a tank army along its western border. In November, Moscow announced it will deploy S-400 Triumf missiles and Iskander missile systems to the region of Kaliningrad.
In 2017, Moscow plans to increase its military budget to $60 billion. However, US military spending still exceeds that figure tenfold.
“But Russia’s decision to keep half of its 2017 federal budget secret means that the true amount it spends on defense is unknown,” according to the report. The authors of report suggested that keeping part of the budget secret enabled the Kremlin to be more flexible in putting additional money to the defense industry without rising social tensions amid the economic crisis…
